This is a public-interest archive. Personal data is pseudonymized and retained under GDPR Article 89.

Re: Fw: Buffalo NEWS





> >* The USDA does not have legal authority over free-ranging wildlife and
> >cannot revoke Montana's brucellosis-free status simply because bison have
> >emigrated from the Park making it unnecessary to capture bison on public
> >lands;
> >* There are no cattle on the Gallatin National Forest near West Yellowstone
> >in the winter so the capture, testing, and slaughter of Yellowstone bison
> >is unnecessary;

This is not a scientific issue, it is a POLITICAL issue. There are many in
the Western states who have proposed killing all the bison who escape
and all the rest left in the park - politically powerful people.

Many environmentalists live in a cocoon and do not realize that
there are some ver capable people who make a living off the land
and who have their own power structures that can make decisions
that stick. Furthermore, these people have a lot of free time and
a lot of money.

There is one scenario that may seal the fate of the Yellowstone herd:

Just let one cow get bangs in Montana near or in any other state near
Yellowstone, and things will get much worse. Farmers and ranchers
are immensely powerful politically. With the right president and
a Congress occupied elsewhere, the compete slaughter of the
Yellowstone herd could occur.

At least under the current plan, some of the genetics will be saved
and dispersed. Until the genes get out of the park and get spread
throughout other private and public herds, Yellowstone bison
are not safe.

You would be better off donating money and working for the the groups
that will be taking in the "tested" animals.

I would love to let the Yellowstone herd roam, let each rancher take a "cut"
each year for sale, etc, as payment, and run the bison in some sort
of a "cooperative" venture between Yellowstone, Landowners, and
ranchers. This is probably the best long-term win-win solution.

I think this will eventually happen.

But it will take time and a generation or two to work things out.
Its better to lose a few head now than to lose the entire herd.
Or to permanently turn Yellostone ranchers against bison.
Then things will never change until the Yellowstone herd is
gone.


-Austin Moseley


---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE PRAIRIE
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index